Summer Camps 2012

Camp Sam is a two week leadership development program for committed Christian teens from 15-17 years of age. It is full of challenges, all kinds of challenges! Why challenges? Because challenges are precious gifts according to James 1:5-8,

“Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed…”(The Message)

Quest exists to develop people of all ages, taking them from one step in their faith journey to the next in an intentional adventure camp setting. Working with Camp Sam every summer is one of the many passions that Scott and I have. It is incredibly stirring each summer to see young men and women making life-changing decisions in their faith journeys.

Following the idea behind the book called DO HARD THINGS by Brett and Alex Harris , we created a 2 week program specifically putting our Camp Sammers in situations that stretched them. The five HARD THINGS we worked on were…

1. Getting out of your comfort zone…into new territory such as budgeting finances, public speaking and sending “city kids” into the jungle!
• They received R$50 as a group and had to decide on a menu for supper, do the shopping and cook the meal outdoors!
• They had to follow orange markers on Quest’s property, discovering a trail they had never been on before!
• They had to discover through conversation some uniqueness about each one of them and then give a 5 minute discourse on that subject!

2. Going beyond what is expected of you…going for excellence in all you do, being respectful of others and dreaming BIG!
• They were given the opportunity to hit the “ bulls eye” during our axe-throwing session!
• What better way to learn respect than through etiquette classes, or better yet, ballroom dance lessons!
• They each wrote their own “Bucket List” of dreams and shared them with our team around a blazing campfire.

3. The Power of Collaboration…working at something too large to do it yourself.
• They tried to pull our car individually, then in groups of two and three and then they all worked together to see how quickly and effortlessly they could do it in comparison.
• They were sent on a “mission” to rescue two scientists that had lost their way in the woods. Their rescue mission involved cooperative activities which forced them to work together physically and mentally….fantastic!
• In the evening they were challenged to work together in groups of three to dream up a social project that they felt was necessary to improve society. One group developed a federal campaign to increase general respect for people and the other group worked out a plan to open a resource and training centre for underprivileged children and teens. Thought-provoking!

4. Small Things that do not give us immediate results.
• They were served balanced meals…eating healthy!
• They listened to a panel discussion including several guests from different areas of studies(engineering, pastoral, psychology, medicine and missions) to talk through the importance of strong study habits throughout high school in order to help them later on in life.
• They endured personal fitness testing(sit ups, push ups, chin ups, sprints and long jump) taken from the old Canadian Fitness Test.
• They wrote a letter to their parents, asking forgiveness for areas in which they haven’t been obedient and letting their parents know the changes they are wanting to implement in their lives after Camp Sam.

5. Going against the Cultural Norms…creating waves where they have influence to do so.
• They learned about different social behaviours….differences in personalities which we celebrated together!
• They prepared and delivered Bible studies in groups of two.

We love seeing God's transforming power in these teens' lives. Each one of you, our supporters, plays an integral role in this ministry...thank you so much for your love, encouragement and prayers.

Winter has Arrived...

Besides the retreats, speaking engagements, and advertising we've been doing for winter camps, we have had three important events in the past 2 months. Take a look at what we've been up to...

AFTERNOON FOR PARENTS

Who doesn't want 50% off of a camp for their children? These two mothers each won a discount for showing up to give us feedback on our past camp season. We are attempting to have more contact with the parents of our campers in order to provide follow up for the entire family.



QUEST BOARD RETREAT

A real blessing for our team, was our 2nd Annual Quest Board Retreat. We held it at a small hotel in our home town. It was an amazing time of development and training for our board. Thomas Schneider, from Word of Life Camp in Porto Alegre, came and shared his story of starting a camp from scratch in 1988. He gave us much encouragement and we will do well to follow in his footsteps, using his acquired wisdom to make solid decisions. Our guest speaker, Thomas, is using the orange jacket.



We were very pleased to have our board member's wives and children join us for the retreat.



Tiago Tormen (left) is Quest's president. Our board is young and is building confidence. Tiago, is one of our ex-staffers from Gramado, who has moved to Curitiba to continue his career as a pediatrician. Tiago met his wife, Carol, while staffing in Gramado. They have been a huge blessing for our team. Renan (right), worked full-time with us at Quest for just over a year. He and his wife, Raquel, have returned to Curitiba to direct their church's orphanage.



For Scott and I, it was wonderful just to sit and take in instead of being up front teaching! We enjoyed ourselves so much. Just to sit back and see God bringing this strong team together has been incredible.



FUNDRAISING BANQUET

On Friday, June 18th, 2010, Quest held their 2nd Annual fundraising banquet, which was so much fun! We had live instrumental music, great food and amazing decorations. We sold each plate for R$100, with a goal of raising R$10,000 here in Brazil in the month of June. This was a bold step for us and we were very pleased with the results. We have already raised around R$11,000 and several people are still fundraising for us even though the banquet is over! That's what friends are for, isn't it? It has been humbling to see so many people buying into the dream for Quest. Here are some pics of our banquet...

Our inexpensive and natural center pieces(it's nice to have a banana plantation next door!)



God has blessed us with a sister in Christ who supports us by catering our banquets for no cost. There were no complaints about her work!!!



We made up placemats with several interesting facts about Quest, including a crossword puzzle and a list of our goals acomplished in 2009.



We set up the decor as if they were arriving at a camp. They absolutely loved it! The theme of the night was "Abrindo Novas Trilhas", or "Opening New Trails". We put down some of our new platforms as a "trail".





We need your prayers as we continue pressing ahead into the vision God has given us. We have a very busy July and August ahead of us. Advertising in churches and schools, winter camp, board meetings and 3 retreats. Sometimes life seems overwhelming, but it is in those moments we realize that we are living beyond what we are capable of and only with God's strength is anything possible! When we are weak, HE IS STRONG! Praise Him!

A Look at Summer Camp 2010...

Welcome to a quick review of Quest's summer camps. From staff to campers, from rain to shine, from joy to tears, from energy to exhaustion, God was constantly at work in ALL of our lives. Praise Him!


It all started in the rain! Here the guys are unloading Quest's new platforms for under the tents. They had just finished unloading all of the other materials halfway up a steep hill (the truck got stuck!) We started EXHAUSTED! Scott said it was a good replacement for "pumping iron".



We were extremely grateful for the many gifts we received from a church in Curitiba. This oven allowed us to bake 14 big pizzas at one time. We also used our new grill and the VPU Scott was able to purchase while in Canada. Thank you to all who donated graciously for this to happen.



Here's a good look at our new tent set up. Many churches joined together to fund this project of new platforms and good quality tarps. We were DRY! Let me tell you, that was a new experience for Quest campers! If you look closely, you'll notice the 7-seater "van" that our family was able to purchase in December. Those extra two seats have already come in handy!



God brought us an amazing summer staff. Besides our program staff we had 12 young adults from 7 different cities join us to minister to the campers. Here they are working as a team to switch spots on the log...it was a tremendous experience for them.


God blessed us tremendously by sending a Canadian couple, Dan and Becky, from Ontario to help us with summer camps. Thanks guys, for obeying God's calling...VALEU!



Our full-time staff was once again super flexible, jumping into any role that was necessary. Yes, we mean ANY role. We jumped from making pizzas to pushing cars up the hill to skits. Here are Scott and Renan reenacting a camper on his first day at camp!



Here are Caleb and his cousin Jaden enjoying a good laugh during staff training. It is always an amazing time for our family to get to know new friends.


Here is a beautiful shot that speaks loudly about the way we impact children's lives.


Here is Muki's cabin group having lunch together.


Hannah enjoying the love of her "Frida" (that's our name for female cabin leaders at Quest) and one of her friends.


Renan playing the role of the court jester at our medieval feast and bringing HUGE smiles to the faces of the children.


Instead of allowing the rain to get us down, we decided to get down and dirty in the rain (and mud). The kids loved it and it helped us all cool down.


This is the time machine that the team created to be used in the ongoing drama of our main character, Dezinho, as he tried to escape God by jumping into a different era every day. He tried to flee from God's presence before creation, during the time of Elijah with multiple gods, the violent medieval era, the independence of Brazil and on the last day he decided to try the future and ended up visiting his own funeral. Frustrated because he ran straight into God at every turn, he decided that the Bible is truth and that there is NO place that we can run in order to flee from God's presence. On the last day, he accepted God as Lord of his life. It was an amazing teaching experience.


Here is a group of our teen campers ages 12-16.


Scott invented this unique idea of cooking eggs over the open fire using bamboo sticks. The kids in this cooking skill loved the challenge.


Scott and I felt privileged to be able to lead Camp Sam, which is our leadership development camp for 15-17 year olds. We had 9 campers and we invested our hearts and souls into these amazing young people. We saw God do awesome things in their lives including freeing them from past sins and developing in them a thirst for His word. The first week we trained them and the second week they joined us serving the camp in various ways.


We spent an hour with each of the Camp Sam campers in order to speak into their lives in a more personal way. We praise God for this opportunity.


Here is the full team that worked together for God's Kingdom. It is always humbling to see how God brings together so many different people from various places and churches in order to grow His family.


Next week, Team Quest will be traveling some 1,200km to do another 4 day camp and these two young men, Kico and Papel, are joining us to help in any way possible. These two guys were part of our first training camps in 2008 and have been a huge blessing to our team ever since. Praise God for faithful friends!

Thank you so much for your prayers and support. Please continue to lift up our campers in your prayers as they return to their everyday lives and challenges.

The Last Few Months...

All of you were invited to come for Scott's 40th Birthday Party and it was a HUGE success. Check out Caleb's expression on the pizza picture and Scott with his cake (and no, the cake picture is NOT overexposed!!!) We had over 60 friends join us, which is an amazing show of God's faithfulness in the past year and a half that we are living here in Schroeder.



After 10 years, Scott's parents returned to Brazil joining us for a double celebration. Scott's birthday and their anniversary! We took 2 weeks of holidays and spent 9 days at the beach with them. Here we are on a boat ride to a fisherman's village for lunch. Dwayne and Shannon's family joined us for 4 days as well.


In April we had the privilege of hosting Becky Patterson and Amanda Pyl, two friends from our Medeba LDP days in Ontario. We had a memorable 2 weeks with them, protecting them from bugs and tropical storms. One memory worth recording was Quest's Murder Mystery party. Based on a rodeo theme, our "multi-purpose" room outside was transformed into Slim's Saloon. We had so much fun playing in two languages. Left to Right: Renan, Scott, Dwayne, Lidi, Carol, Patsy, Jessi, Becky, Shannon (yes, Shannon) and Amanda.


Here she is...our little precious baby! At least that what Scott calls her!!! The kids are ALL cat lovers and so is Mommy and we are enjoying her so much. There is never a dull moment in our home!


We thought you would enjoy seeing one of the teams we worked with recently. This dear old man is 84 years old and has a lot of enthusiasm and motivation. He really impacted our team positively.


Thanks for dropping by. We love to hear from you. Thanks again for all your support.